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Ashes of Creation Q&A Talks RMT, Crafting Progression and PvE

A Q&A for Ashes of Creation has occurred in the game’s Discord channel with Creative Director Steven Sharif revealing a broad variety of design plans. Sharif took community questions focused on RMT, how crafters will progress in the upcoming MMO, and a variety of PvE-related questions.

Crafting questions came up frequently in the chat, with Sharif confirming a few points to those who are looking to build items in the game. According to Sharif, top-tier crafted items will be fully customizable, with a variety of “dials” that can be used to create unique items depending on how your crafter class has advanced. “Set bonuses are different, passives are different,” wrote Sharif. “When you reach top tier crafting, you’re going to have a diverse realm of items and gears that relate to how you’ve built your character. You don’t have to introduce an RNG element.”

A follow-up question semi-confirmed that the Artisan tree of crafting may not be completely available depending on a player’s specializations. However, certain special dials could be opened up by achieving a certain reputation should the Social Organizations stretch goal be reached. “Being a captain in the thieves’ guild may unlock a certain dial that you could apply when crafting leather armor. That could relate to more dex/evasion classes,” explained Sharif.

PvE questions came up, detailing rewarding defenders of caravans and how caravans are planned to operate. In addition to player-run caravans, PvE caravans will spawn as well that carry specific items or important individuals as part of the game’s Node-specific questing system. Those who defend a caravan should receive rewards similar in scope to those who attack a caravan, and a cut-off point for gaining those rewards is being planned should people try to join in a defense at the last second.

The team is also looking at adding clear time ladders for dungeon and raids and is also considering having those clear times tied to some dungeon rewards. Sharif also confirmed that the more a Node advances, the more quests will spawn from it, and that a Node’s level of advancement will link to how difficult quests and creatures in the Node’s Zone of Influence will be.

A question was also asked about how to balance rewarding those who have more time to play versus those who don’t. Sharif admitted that striking that fine line was challenging, but emphasized that skill in performing a given role should outweigh those who have sunk great amounts of time while still rewarding the effort of time spent.

Finally, Sharif took a moment to answer a question on how the devs will handle the problem of RMT. “Behavioral algorithms, security mechanisms, we’ll have very versatile metrics we’re using to monitor those accounts,” wrote Sharif. “In addition, being subscription based game cuts out a large percentage of accounts made to just sell gold. It increases the barrier to entry. We can’t have 100% efficacy, but we’ll try very hard.”

Our Thoughts

This Q&A was incredibly informative, with a clearer picture of just what the devs plan on doing in Ashes of Creation at a more mechanical level. We anticipate more details on just how things will operate in Ashes of Creation soon, as Sharif has noted in the Q&A that development blogs are in the works. We’re definitely excited to learn more!

About Chris Hughes

Chris is a literal wolf who has managed to learn how to use a computer. He enjoys cooking, roleplaying, writing, and reading those who do the same. You can find him staring at Twitter or read more of his attempt at humor at his blog, or in-game primarily on WildStar, Blade and Soul or Final Fantasy XIV.